Owner's Construction Manager study plan

Distinguish design-bid-build, design-build, CM-at-risk, and CM-as-advisor by allocating risk, cost certainty, and schedule compression for each

Explain how the owner's construction manager's authority and liability shift between agency CM and CM-at-risk roles

Map the sequence of owner decisions from programming through closeout for two delivery methods and note where the CM adds the most value

Draft a one-page comparison matrix of delivery methods scored against cost, schedule, quality, and owner staffing burden

Analyze how delivery-method choice constrains or enables early procurement of long-lead items and phased permitting

Translate a project program into measurable area, capacity, and performance targets with traceable assumptions

Identify the owner decision gates that must be closed before design authorization and list the consequences of skipping each

Estimate a rough order-of-magnitude budget from program quantities and defend the contingency allowance

Build a stakeholder and approvals register covering authorities having jurisdiction, utilities, and internal owner approvers with lead times

Sequence site due-diligence tasks such as survey, geotechnical investigation, environmental review, and utility capacity checks against the design calendar

Convert the program into a milestone schedule showing permitting and procurement durations as explicit activities

Write acceptance criteria for design deliverables so the owner can judge completeness objectively

Select the appropriate procurement route for three scenarios differing in schedule pressure, design maturity, and risk tolerance

Draft evaluation criteria and a weighting scheme that separates pass-fail qualifications from scored technical and price factors

Explain the mechanics and risks of best-value, low-bid, and qualifications-based selection from the owner's side of the table

Prepare prequalification questions that test financial capacity, safety record, and comparable-project experience

Structure a construction contract with clear scope, schedule milestones, liquidated damages, and change-order procedures

Plan the mobilization and pre-construction conference agenda, including submittal, RFI, and meeting cadences

Design a submittal and RFI workflow with review turnaround times and escalation paths

Set up a quality-assurance observation program with defined hold points and documentation standards

Evaluate a change-order request by testing scope entitlement, pricing reasonableness, and schedule impact before recommending owner action

Run a risk workshop that ranks owner-side risks by probability and consequence and assigns mitigation owners

Prepare a monthly owner report that communicates progress, cost exposure, open risks, and decisions needed

Outline the substantial completion, punch-list, and closeout documentation sequence including warranties and as-builts

Read a cost report and reconcile commitments, actuals, and forecast-to-complete against the approved budget

Interpret a critical-path schedule, identify float consumption, and explain the schedule effect of a two-week delay

Compute earned-value indicators and translate them into a plain-language status statement for the owner

Design a set of control thresholds and escalation triggers for cost and schedule variance

Apply a decision framework to three ethical scenarios involving confidentiality, conflict of interest, and pressure to approve deficient work

Map the owner organization's roles, decision rights, and communication lines for a representative project

Assess which delivery-method and contract choices best support collaborative behavior and identify incentives that reward it

Synthesize the full course into a personal checklist of owner-side CM duties by project phase